The relationship between ethylene oxide levels in hemoglobin and the prevalence of kidney stones in US adults: an exposure–response analysis from NHANES 2013–2016

Exposure to ethylene oxide may cause a number of diseases. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether there is an association between hemoglobin ethylene oxide (HbEO) and the risk of developing kidney stones in US adults. We analyzed 3348 patients from the National Health and Nutrition Survey (NHANES) 2013–2016 and conducted a cross-sectional study. Dose–response analysis curves of restricted cubic spline function, multiple logistic regression, and subgroup analysis were used to investigate the association between HbEO and the risk of kidney stones. Logistic regression models were used to analyze the correlation between HbEO and kidney stones. Among the 3348 participants, 3016 people self-reported having a kidney stone. After adjusting for age, sex, race, marital status, education level, diabetes, vigorous recreational activity, moderate recreational activity, body mass index, blood urea nitrogen, creatinine, eGFR, and uric acid, we found a positive association between HbEO and the risk of kidney stones. We divided patients into four groups based on quartiles of HbEO levels and performed multifactorial logistic regression after adjusting for confounders, which showed that the incidence of kidney stones increased with increasing HbEO concentrations compared with Q1 (Q2, OR = 0.922, 95% CI, 0. 657–1.295, P = 0.639; Q3, OR = 1.004, 95% CI, 0.713–1.414, P = 0.983; Q4, OR = 1.535, 95% CI, 1.114–2.114, P = 0.009). High levels of HbEO were positively correlated with the risk of kidney stone development and could be used as an indicator of kidney stone prevention.